American Government / Unit 1 Gov 025 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Shays' Rebellion
Captions available
The idea
Shays' Rebellion was a 1786–1787 uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers that the confederation government proved unable to put down.
In practice
The rebellion closed courts to stop foreclosures; a privately funded militia, not Congress, suppressed it.
Where people slip
The alarm was structural — a center that cannot answer a rebellion has failed a basic test.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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